I really love this book, it is one of the neatest apps I have ever played (and I have been playing apps since the iPod 2g came out). That said, there are a few annoying problems. The first one, which is the biggest one, is that some of the fights are unfair. For example, in one battle the enemy gets to go first and ALWAYS stuns you. Then they attack you and by the time you recover, they have done around 1800 damage. Now this is just cheap because you cannot prevent this at all. One of my favorite games is dark souls. While it's not very hard, it can be challenging. But it is not challenging because they prevent you from doing anything while the enemy kills you. In that game, it's usually your fault if you get hit. Here it's just cheap shots. The second thing is repetition. While I understand why the enemies are the same, some other aspects I don't. For example, in one chapter they use the same image 3 times, which just comes off as lazy. I much rather have no image at all, then use the same image multiple times. The other thing is battles are usually the same. Even when the book said there were 2 goals with their backs turned, the battle played out with 3 of them facing me. The battles almost always end up being 3, no matter what it says.
I will wait until the combat is balanced better before taking the plunge to buy. The good thing is that the developer appears to be active in this thread, and appears to be receptive to the comments made by so many people about the combat difficulty. I will look forward to the update.
Might it feature a greater variety of enemies, to help allieviate the (percieved) limitations mentioned below?
I'm afraid to spoil something about Act 2 but what I can say is that we're going to add additional contents with every Act, in term of new environments, enemies, weapons, etc, so the game will become richer and richer at every release.
I've actually already bought the full pass, expecting no less, but I'm glad to already see confirmation that my trust seems to be well-placed
This game is brilliant in some ways but disasterous in another ones. Why on earth there is only portrait-mode starting screen but album-only combat? Who ever thinks that people like to rotate their ipads during play? Combat system is unintuitive, very unfair. It's interface is non-informative, I can't understand how much damage I'll deal with selected action or even what actions are ready to use. When I'm looking throu the menues, I lost time in battle and can't attack in full power. It'd be a lot easier if all char actions were listed in the bottom of the screen, and we can see how fast they are becoming available to use. Also I'd prefer classic turn-based over current time-based jumping.
FDG/Forge... Please, please, please fix the balancing for the combat. Whether it is just varying difficulty levels or something more complex, I for one cannot come back to the game in its current state. I also can't do what I was hoping and have my kids play it. This isn't Demon's Souls, it's a game book. I'm sure there are many who like the challenge, but it's ruining the game for a lot of us. At this point, I've thrown $5 away on a game I've been pining for since I first heard about it. Please, please, please, please, please give those of us who aren't capable a solution to these unbearable battles.
I'm going to try to give some more constructive feedback on what bugs me about the combat. I think the central problem is that there are simply too many constraining factors on what you can do. You're constrained by the time on your AT meter, you're constrained by your reflexes if you miss a QTE, you're constrained by gauges for Kai and endurance, you're constrained by your tactical decisions, you're constrained by ammo and resources, and you're constrained by ability cool downs. Most games only pick a couple of constraining factors. For example, a turn-based strategy game typically constrains you only on tactical decisions and on limited resources. A racing game constrains you based on time and reflexes. This lets players focus really hard on those few constraining factors and really get the most out of them, sacrificing units for the greatest payoff in strategy or turning at the right moment in a racing game. This game simply feels like I have too much to manage and no time to come to grips with it. I think some of the constraints need to be lifted, and I think the best one to start with is time. It's really annoying when my turn comes up, and I go to select a combat action only to find I don't have enough endurance for a shield bash, so I back out to find another action and before I know it a goblin is smashing my face in. I think there would be more than enough excitement left in the game if the action paused when the players turn came up. There's still plenty of tactical depth and the excitement of well-timed QTEs.
Oh, wow. Yeah. That. ---^ Brilliant and detailed take, I couldn't agree more... I just wish I'd have come up with it
Eventually I became pretty damn proficient at combat (through a lot of trial and error) but that is more a testament to my complete and utter stubborness rather than the combat system being inuitive or even logical. Someone's post regarding Dark Souls made me chuckle, as that was the only other game that has almost made me smash electronic devices into dust, but at least that game allowed you to take action before obliterating you. That last battle before the episode ends is beyond ridiculous. The fact that some battle sequences are consecutive and give you no chance to meditate, also presents a problem. If a player is dry of food/potions, they are completely stuck. The game automatically saves after you win a battle, so if you BARELY won by thr skin of your teeth, it is actually far more of a detriment if there is another fight looming. Even after successfully winning a fight, you should have the opportunity to replay it for better results, since your health/kai/endurance carry over to the next fight, and every single fight (well 90%) starts with you eating at least one shot. There needs to be more info and detail regarding your skills. Damage totals, kai use, endurance requirements. I don't mind (now) the fact that you have a limited amount of time to react, but the game really gives you nothing but trial and error to base your decisions on.... It would also be helpful if the game displayed the mob's time meter, so you could plan attacks/defensive actiond accordingly.
I have just completed the game for the first time, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Not to be the dissenting voice, but I did not find the combat that bad after a bit of practice. There is already the option to lower the difficulty after death for less reward, so for me personally I would rather have this mechanism to balance the game rather than making it "easier". I must admit, when I first started I did feel this way too, but as the game went on, and I learned to use all the abilities / potions, it became somewhat easier, hard but defiantly not impossible ( and I speak as a 40 + gamer). I am posting this just in case the developers thinks that everyone is finding it too difficult, though I understand if some are finding it too frustrating. Maybe a separate practice mode would help?
I agree I like the combat difficult, just not cheap. When the enemy always stuns you before you can make a move is a little unfair. I'm still stuck at one fight thanks to taking 1800 dmg before I can do anything.
That was the only fight I had to turn down the difficulty and then i beat it on the first try with relative ease. The difference between normal and "baby" mode was absurd. It also didnt help that i was already at half health before the ridculous stun lock occurs, from the previous fight.
So many memories (strange I don't remember game books being so freeking awesome during battle sceenes )lol
I am very pleased to live new adventures of Lone Wolf, this is really priceless (ah, nostalgia...) Thanks a lot to the devs and specialy to Joe Dever for pursuing this wonderfull serie and for his participation to the Project Aon : I get all the gamebooks and I can't wait to replay them nearly 30 years after my first reading ! Concerning this app, I am stuck all the time in portrait mode during the narration. I'd like to be able to see the text and the adventure chart at the same time in landscape, I suppose this is possible on the iPad as I see it on numerous screenshots. Is this a bug or I missed something ? I play on an iPad air 64 wifi. PS : Sorry for my bad english...
God, I'm trying here but on the second battle, the second!, even after drinking potions and hitting almost every mark, I'm dead. I don't mind challenging games, I truly don't, but this is ridiculous. There's no way I can play it until there are some changes. This isn't Mega Man, it makes Infinity blade seem like a preschool game. devs, we need some flexibility here. This was my most anticipated release, but as of now it's unplayable due to the complete unforgiving everything about the game. That said, I have to commend the story. It's simply amazing. But look at games where the story is the foundation, they always allow the option to heavily decrease the difficulty level. While the combat really adds something new to the formula, we should be able to enjoy the story without the combat ruining that.
I Guys thanks a lot for all the comments in this thread, they are very useful to me and for the development team. For the next Lone Wolf updates we keep in mind all advice and we also try to resolve some of the problems we had in the game at the moment. Soon we release a new update, so PLEASE continue to help us to make Lone Wolf better and better on every update until the release of the Second Act in the next year. Thanks you all
I think andsoitgoes said things perfectly here. I don't have the game yet, and won't buy it until I hear that the combat has been balanced better. Since it is meant to be a gamebook, I want to be able to buy it to enjoy the story, not to be frustrated by combat that only gets in the way of that enjoyment, and also, since I am an older gamer, I am not the best at twitch based gaming either. I am sure that I am not the only one hesitating to hit that buy button after reading that people are banging their heads against the wall due to the needlessly unfair combat. Edited, I see one of the development team has posted just as I was posting, and I am glad that the team is on top of all the comments posted here, and I will look forward to seeing how the update process goes before buying.
I can confirm that we're 100% committed to make the game more enjoyable. As you saw all the team is checking daily this thread looking for advices. One of them already replied because, as I said, I need to sleep sometimes So, thanks again for your help and we're going to submit a new update to Apple soon.
thank you for bringing the lone wolf universe to the appstore, you've done a superb job! if I have any criticism it is the combat. the first fight you reach is pretty difficult. I managed to win on the 1st attempt but felt it was a mighty close call! the problem was I didn't really know what I was doing so think it was good fortune than skill. subsequent battles didn't fare much better! hope sales of this encourage further development, would love to see the first 5 or 6 books re-imagined in digital as well.
